FOOD FOR THOUGHT

BEANLESS COFFEE, COCOA-FREE CHOCOLATE AND PROTEIN MADE FROM THIN AIR– THE FUTURE OF FOOD IS FASCINATING, WITH REGENERATIVE FARMING AND FERMENTATION HELPING TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE AND POPULATION GROWTH

- HANNAH BRANDLER

A potted plant arrives at my table and, for a split second, I worry that jet lag has led to hallucinations. I'm sitting at the Mandarin Oriental’s MO Bar in Singapore, sampling its new cocktail menu, The Echoes of Singapore, which includes a section dedicated to future innovations.

Designed to mimic a plant, the inventive mixology certainly provides attractive fodder for Instagram and TikTok, but the roots go a lot deeper, highlighting important issues in a city-state where food security is high on the agenda. The cocktail Plant-ish is inspired by Singapore's 30 by 30 vision, the city’s plan to produce 30 percent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030 (at the moment more than 90 percent of food is imported).

Served in a clay planter from the city’s Little India district, the cocktail is a window into the wider global food crisis facing a rapidly growing population, which is set to grow from 8.1 billion to 9.7 billion by 2050.

Global food production is both affected by climate change and to blame for it—responsible for up to a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, depending on measurement factors. It’s not all doom and gloom though, with companies across the globe future-proofing the industry by considering alternative crops and using groundbreaking technology to develop nutrient-rich products. Here, we look at the challenges at play and the brands saving the planet one bite (or sip) at a time.

APPETITE FOR AWARENESS

Many of us take what's on our plate for granted. One of the main challenges in raising awareness on the subject is simplifying a topic that can be perplexing to the average consumer. Thankfully, a string of exhibitions highlighting food security seek to do just that.